Thursday, February 25, 2010

Our next designer made a major lifestyle change when she moved from the north of Scotland to Calgary, Alberta three years ago with her Husband and West Highland Terrier. They love living here and they try to get out adventuring as much as possible - and Jemma's blog is full of photos and descriptions of their great adventures in and around the Calgary area!

Jemma started scrapbooking five years ago, and was on Montreal's Scrapbook Star Design Team for the past two years. She has also been on the DTs for The Dotty Divas Blog Challenge and Rough Draft. She was a guest artist on Twisted Sisters Blog, has been published in the Basic Grey gallery four times, and created layouts for an Etsy store. Besides featuring her layouts and adventure stories on her personal blog, Jemma creates weekly sketches for her other blog - Sketch Friday.

When Jemma applied for the SMS Design Team, I was impressed by her richly-detailed layered scrapbook pages, as well as her straightforward sketches. She sent us these two layouts:

On "This is Love", Jemma used the the bracket shape from our Artisan Journaling Spots as well as the brown Journaling label from our Valentines Cut-Outs. The bracket shape of these two items perfectly complements the die-cut paper she used for her background. I love how Jemma layers products and uses things in unexpected ways.

In "All Man" Jemma tucked another Artisan Journaling Spot behind a photo and added the word "love" on top of it. Then she used a different tag from our Valentines Cut-Outs for her journaling at the bottom of the layout. I love all the shades of blue Jemma used on this LO - perfect for the "manly" subject matter - but then added a touch of pink to keep it feminine! Thanks Jemma for sharing these brilliant layouts!

I am loving how each of our designers are using the same product but really changing them up to fit their own personal style. I am really impressed by their creativity and I love how versatile all our products are turning out to be! When I designed/created these products I had certain ideas of how they could be used in my head - but as I see each designer use them, I am like a proud parent watching their baby turn into something completely different than they expected! What fun!

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Our next designer Joan is a teacher (ahh, a girl after my own heart!) and lives in northeast Ohio with her husband, college-age daughter and her cute little dog - a chihuahua named Chiquita. She loves to scrapbook, but also creates cards, some mixed media and home decor items. Joan generously shares her work on several other design teams - Creative Cookbooking, Create It - Green! and Moments Recorded, and was formerly a DT member for Christmas Cards All Year 'Round. Her work has been published in Somerset Home, Somerset Holidays & Celebrations, Take Ten, Stamper's Sampler and Stamping, Stationery & Scrapbooking. As well, she has been featured in Basic Grey's online gallery. Joan's work is so happy and bright and it made me feel good as soon as I saw the pieces she submitted with her Design Team application. First, a layout full of energy and bright colors:

I love how Joan used the same design for each page and simply changed up the colors and patterns! It would be quick to replicate and wouldn't it make a lovely shower gift for a new bride? Joan also altered this adorable clothespeg using one of our coordinating bracket shaped Journaling Spots to hold all those yummy recipes...

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

The internet is pretty amazing. I first "met" Tracy through an online class we took took at Big Picture Scrapbooking last winter. We realized that we both lived in the province of Alberta, although several hours apart! We crossed paths again during Lain Ehmann's Lay-Out A Day (LOAD) project in May and have since kept in touch via blog comments and emails. Needless to say I was so excited when Tracy applied for the SMS design team! I always enjoyed her layouts featuring beautiful photos of her adorable girls and heartfelt journaling. Here are the layouts she sent in with her application:

She also used a coordinating Artisan Bracket Journaling Spot to record her journaling, which reads: "Even on the days you girls fight like cats & dogs. I still love you both. I have since I carried you for 9+ months. The moment you were born. Everyday since. And for all the tomorrows we have together. Feb 2010 Love Mom"

Supplies used in layout: American Crafts Ribbon. Flair badge. Bazzill cardstock.Making Memories (Pink) Letters, American Crafts Remarks (Black) Letters. Sharing Memories Calendars and Journaling SpotsTracy also used one of our Valentine Cut-Outs as a background for the stamped sentiment on this glittery card:

Supplies used on card: Stamps by See D's. Holographic embossing powder by Ranger. Lilac embossing powder by Sugarloaf (used inside - not shown).Shortly after Tracy accepted a postion on our design team, she started her own blog and was able to reveal that she was asked by Stacy Julian to be a coach for this year's Library of Memories class at BPS! This is so fitting, as I clearly remember Tracy being a supportive voice for all the participants in our class last year. Congrats Tracy!

Before I finish up, I want to introduce you to another friend of mine. Jolene is a wonderful gal who loves to make cards and she created some using a few of our new products that I wanted to share with you:

Saturday, February 13, 2010

Amber is a truly a passionate papercrafter! She has been scrapping for 10 years and jumped into cardmaking 2 years ago. She is currently on the Die Cuts R Us, Paper Garden Projects, Sketch Girl, and A True Friend Challenge Blog Design Teams. In the past she has been on design teams for Cuttlebug Challenge, Scripture Scrappers and Christian Papercraft Magazine, and has been a guest Designer for Twilight Tuesday. Her work has been seen been in"2 Sketches 4 You", "Scrapbooking.com Magazine", "Ready, Set, Create Ezine" and "Scrapstreet Magazine" and she has an upcoming publication in "Cards Magazine" this coming April. Whew! Amber obviously loves to create and share her work and we are so happy to have her working with Sharing Memories Scrapbooking products. (Make sure to drop by Amber's blog to see her work for all her design teams!)

Amber sent in three lovely papercrafting projects with her Design Team application and I knew we had to showcase her whimsical style! Here is the gorgeous card she sent in...

I couldn't wait to see what Amber had in mind for our SMS products and I LOVE the cards she came up with. She used the February calendar from our Warm Perpetual Calendar Pak and a tag from our Valentine Cut-Outs for this cutie. The embossed background and the little stamped heart that draws our attention to the date are so cute!

Next she used another of our Valentine Cut-Outs - a bracket shaped journaling box with a little heart tucked at the bottom. She trimmed off the colored edge, distressed the bare edges and then stamped her sentiment right on the journaling lines. Great idea!

Thursday, February 11, 2010

I wonder how many scrapbook design teams can boast of having a Doctor on their team? Well, we can! Yes, Natalie Strand recently completed her PhD in ASTROPHYSICS and is now working as a postdoc in the field of physics education! (Wow...I had to withdraw from Physics 10 in high school because the big numbers scared me so much!) And who says the fields of science and the arts can't peacefully co-exist - Natalie is proof. In her spare time she loves to scrapbook, create a variety of sewing projects and work in her balcony garden. She recently wrote an eloquent post on why she scrapbooks and she often posts her layouts on her blog - Vegetablog.

I was instantly in love with Natalie's clean , yet detailed style when I saw these layouts that she submitted for our design team call:

And look at what she did with our Valentine Cut-Outs and Artisan Journaling Spots! Natalie loosely based her first layout on Page Plan #5, but says it "morphed a bit"! That's what so great about page plans and sketches...they give you a place to start and then your own creativity can take over! I love how Natalie used several of our journaling spots and tags and continued her writing from one tag to another. I also love the dimension she gave them by layering them and popping two tags up with a foam adhesive.

Tuesday, February 09, 2010

Jamie is a 30-something mother of two children who lives near Detroit MI. She is currently on the Design Team for Practical Scrappers and Frosted Designs, and has been on the DT's for Scrap Within Reach and her LSS. AND...she works full time outside of the home! Busy lady! She loves to scrapbook and makes cards, as well as creating and offering a huge assortment of cut files for the Cricut and Sure Cuts a Lot on her blog Bits of Paper. These are the super cute creations she sent in with her design team application that I fell in love with:

I was blown away by Jamie's knowledge and skill at using Sure Cuts a Lot software along with her Cricut. To make this stunning Valentine card she started off using our Page Plan #21. She took the photo of the plan off of the website and turned it into SVG file. Then she cut the brown scallop and multi-pattern circle background in a smaller form using these SVG files! She also used a couple of tags and shapes from our Valentine Cut-Outs. She topped it all off with a February Perpetual Calendar!

Sunday, February 07, 2010

Wow...just a few days ago we chose and announced our fabulous new design team and they have been hard at it already! Their projects have been coming in and I am so excited to show them to you. It also gives me a chance to share a little more about each of our designers!

First up is Michelle Roycroft! Michelle is a former English teacher and is now a stay at home mom to an adorable little girl - Anna. She is currently on the design team for Happy Scrappin' Scrapbooking, and formerly on the design team for Let's Scrap's Sketch Blog. Her layouts have been featured on Cosmo Cricket's blog, GCD Studios' blog, and the Baisc Grey online gallery and she had a layout published in the Aug/Sept issue of ScrapbooksEtc. While she does mini albums and the occasional altered project, her focus is mainly on traditional layouts - both in 12 x 12 and 8 1/2 x 11 formats.

Michelle's playful style immediately caught our eye - we love her use of color and those photos of her darling little girl are so sweet! These are the two layouts she submitted for our Design Team call:

And here are the projects she created featuring Sharing Memories new Perpetual Calendars, Artisan Bracket Journaling Spots and Valentine Cut Outs:

I love how she cut the calendar apart and paired it with a journaling tag. And what a fresh color palette for Valentine's day!

For this card Michelle made use of one of our free printables from last fall - our December Daily Circles! Why not copy this idea using a number "14" for a Valentine day card!

I love how Michelle changed up the look of our Artisan Bracket Journaling Spots. She rounded the corner on one and used one as the base for her colorful title. Then she completely cut out the bracket shape from another journaling spot to give it a totally different look. And what a great use for our Perpetual Calendars - simply circle a date to remember and record a special day!

Thanks for creating and sharing Michelle! We look forward to lots more fun projects from you! Be sure to visit Michelle's blog - Remember This - to see more of her work!

Thursday, February 04, 2010

Sigh...February is here and I had every intention of designing some free printables for Valentines Day like I did for Halloween and Christmas. Really, I did! But life got in the way and I just haven't had a chance. And since Valentines Day is only 10 days away, I know that I'm just not going to make it this year. So this year I will be content (and grateful!) for all the other designers who HAVE been able to post their creations on the Wonderful World Wide Web! Here are some of my favorites:

HP Creative Studio has two different sets of Valentine Cards that are perfect for the kiddos to hand out at school. I like the "Animal Love" cards, but the "Better Together" set is super cute and very retro.

They also have templates for gift bags and tags, boxes, and even a Valentine Mailbox. Oh...and they are all FREE! Awesome! (PS...since they are smallish, I think we are going to use these as tags for some Valentine treat bags for Grayson's class. Check back for project pics!)

Tuesday, February 02, 2010

I love February because, well, it's all about LOVE! Of course there is Valentine's Day, but my family also celebrate some meaningful anniversaries and birthdays this month too! And in Alberta we have a special Family Day Holiday - what's not to love about that?!

It goes without saying that I also LOVE our new Valentines Products! I love the shapes, textures and colors as well as all the possibilities I can think of for using them! And after we announce the new Design Team in the next few days we'll get them working on some LOVE-ly samples using the products, so watch for that in a couple of weeks.

Like all our Page Paks, this one has enough materials to create AT LEAST two 12 x 12 layouts, usually with lots leftover! You'll receive four papers - one patterned with hearts, one with multi coordinating stripes, a double sided pink/red and a solid red cardstock. You'll also receive 11 die-cut hearts, 1 tag, 1 "love note" tag pocket, 2 journaling spots, 5 brads and 1 12" length of stitched ribbon. All for $5.00! Out Page Paks are such a great value!

I LOVE these little felties! They are our first felt products but they definitely won't be our last! You'll receive 8 felt die-cut flowers, 2 in each color - Red, Pale Pink, Pale Blue and Brown! SO cute! And at only $1.00 per Pak, again, they are a great value! I loved layering them up and adding some buttons from my stash. Yummy!

You'll receive 12 buttons, four in each color - Red, Pink and White - again for only $1.00 per pak! Add these to any layout or a card, or if you sew & knit they would be adorable on a child's sweater or dress, too!

All the ladies at our All-Day Crop this past weekend received a set of these Valentine Cut-Outs in their goody bags - and by the end of the day I saw quite a few had made it onto layouts as journaling spots, spaces for dates or captions or just decorative elements. They are obviously very versatile and are a great value at only $1.00 for 7 tags!

You'll receive six embossed die cut hearts (2 Red, 2 Pale Pink, 1 Pale Blue and 1 Brown) in each pak for only $1.00. The hearts are about 2" each and are perfect additions to your Valentine scrapbook pages.

All items will be available in the shop later today or early tomorrow. And don't forget to check back to see what our new design team can do with these! Have a happy Love Month! - er, I mean...February!

About Me

Hi! I'm a wife and mom of two busy boys. I'm am art teacher by day and a crafty homebody by night. I love being at home or at our little cabin in the woods, organizing, crafting, cooking or baking and trying to make the crazy job of being a mom a little more creative and fun. Join me for my adventures in family life!